Curl clip



July 16, 1957 LEON CURL CLIP Filed Aug. 50, 1955 Z11 I] 1/ J wj lvpmmmBY of 7 ATTORNEY United States Patent CURL CLIP Louis Leon, Massapetlua,N. Y. Application August30, 1955, Serial No. 531,479

3 Claims. (Cl. 132-46) Two-piece curl clips of the prior art, such asthe type I disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,638,908, issued May 19,195-3, for example, rely for their clamping action on a spring tonguelanced from one of the members thereof.

The spring tongue tends to keep the hair clamping parts of the cliptogether and the tongue is flexed when the clip is opened. Since thespringtongues must be relatively short to prevent them fromcatching ortangling with the hair when in use, and. because the tongues must flex aconsiderable amount in relation to their length when the clip is used,they often break and/or are flexed. beyond their elastic limit. A brokenspring-tongue renders the clip useless, and one whose tongue is flexedbeyond its elastic limit will not close or close tightly enough to stayclamped on the hair curl and must be discarded.

In view of the above, another object of the present invention is toprovide a two-piece hair curl clipof the above general type wherein theclamping action between the two pieces is effected by two springtongues, one from each of the two pieces thereof working against eachother. By this arrangement it is necessary for each spring tongue toflex, other things being equal, only onehalf as much as when a singlespring tongue is employed. This also provides a tighter closing clip andone wherein the spring tongues thereof can not be flexed beyond theirelastic limits.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hair curl clipof the above type wherein the spring tongues of the clip are locatedbetween the handle or finger gripping portions of the clip, and aretherefore much less likely to catch or tangle with the hair when beingplaced on or removed from a hair curl.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a two-piecehair curl clip wherein the two pieces are locked together independentlyof the spring tongues of the two pieces.

The foregoing and further objects and features of the present inventionwill be more apparent in the following detailed description of thepreferred embodiment thereof,

wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in the latter ofwhich:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a hair curl clip constructed inaccordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the hair curl clip of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the lower or bottom piece of the two-piece haircurl clip of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a plan View of the upper or top piece of the two-piece clip;

Fig. 5 is a side view partly in section showing the clip in an openposition; and

scribed spring tongues thereof.

2,799,281 Patented July 16, 1957 or piece, indicated generally byreference numerals 11 and 12, respectively. The two pieces arepreferably made of sheet metal of suitable thickness and capable ofbeing tempered or otherwise conditioned to give the desired resiliencythereto and particularly the hereinafter de- The two pieces are ofsubstantially the same length, width and thickness and are-adapted to befabricated by stamping operations.

As shown best in Figs. 2 and 4, the lower piece 12 comprises a flatintermediate section 13 from which extends in a leftwardly or forwardlydirection a pair of spaced apart jaw fingers 14. The fingers l4 may haveopenings such as 16 spaced therea'long to improve the gripping action ofthe clip, and the-ends may be rounded to facilitate the insertionthereof in a hair curl. Extending toward the rear orthe right as shownin Fig. 4 is a finger gripping o-r handle section 17.

n Formed fromthecentral right-hand section of the bottom part 12, as bylacing for example, is a spring tongue 18., The tongue 18-ha's the freeend thereof extending toward the right and, as best shown in Figs. 2 and5, be.-

fore assembling with the top part 11 the tongue is slightly bent in anupward direction so that the major portion thereof lies ina plane abovethe plane of the remainder ofthepart ll. i t

' Also formed from the-lower part 11 adjacent the'intermediate sectionthereof is apair of upwardly extending oppositely positioned, tabs '19."The "tabs 19 are for-medby pending upwardly small partly cut sectionsof the lower part illiaf the edges offth e opening for' med by-thetongue "182' I The tab-s-19 arebentatsubstantialiy-riglit angles w theintermediate section 13 and are undercut, or so formed, as best shown inFig. 6, to provide notches 21 on the outer edges thereof with overlyingprojections 22 thereabove. Preferably the upper ends of the tabs 19slope outwardly, which facilitates assembly of the lower part 11 withthe upper part 12, as will be explained hereinafter.

The upper part 11 of the curl clip is substantially the same length andwidth as the lower part and comprises an intermediate section 23 fromwhich extends, toward the left, a pair of jaw fingers 24. The fingers 24are joined by a cross-member 26 adjacent the free ends and have openslots 27 along the length thereof.

The intermediate section 23 of the upper part 11 has a gradualtransverse bend 29 therein of approximately so as to form a roundedrocking area at the center of the intermediate section. The right-handend of the part 11 is bent slightly downward to form a finger gripportion 31, and the jaw fingers 24 are bent in a slightly downwarddirection at the left-hand termination of the intermediate section 23.

Formed also as by lacing, for example, from the upper part 11 is aspring tongue 32 generally similar to the tongue 18 of the lower part12. The tongue 32 extends toward the right and, as shown in Figs. 1, 2and 5, the lefthand part thereof is above the bend 29 and the righthandpart extends through the opening made in the upper part in forming thetongue to a position somewhat below the finger grip portion 3 1. The tipend 33 of the tongue 32 is bent downwardly to engage the end of theother tongue 18 adjacent its free end, 1

In the center of the intermediate section 23 of the upper part 11 andextending outwardly from the opening formed by the tongue 32 are a pairof slots or openings 34. The distance from the bottom of one of theslots 34 to the bottom of the other is somewhat less than the distancebetween the outside surfaces of the tabs 19 on the lower part 12 so thatwhen the tabs 19 are inserted in the slots 34, the notches 21 will lockthe two pieces together.

In, assembling the two parts 11 and 12 on the clip together, the upperpart 11 is placed over the lower part 12 and the two are pressedtogether. As tabs 19 enter the slots 34, they are forced inwardly due tothe sloping surfaces at their upper ends, and when the bent section 29of the upper part engages the intermediate section of the lower part,the notches 21 of the tabs permit them to spring outwardly to lock thetwo pieces together. The

tongues 18 and 32 are so formed that they are tensioned when the twoparts are assembled and the resiliency thereof keeps the ends of the twosets of jaw fingers together. Since there are two spring tongues to theclip acting .against each other and each of substantially the sameresiliency, each tongue only has to flex one-half as much as a singletongue would be required to flex in opening the clip a given amount.Thus the tongues of the present clip will be much less likely to breakor be flexed beyond their elastic limits than clips employing but asingle tongue.

While the invention has been shown and described and having anintermediate section upon which said upper part is arranged to pivot andfrom which extends a forward jaw section and a rear handle section, aspring tongue lanced from said intermediate section with the free endthereof extending thereabove and toward said mediate section andextending upwardly therefrom at substantially right angles to said lowerpart, said tabs having sidewise and outwardly extending projectionsadjacent the free ends thereof, the upper part of said clip having anintermediate section bent transversely of the length thereof to form arearwardly and upwardly extending handle section and a forwardly and anadjacent upwardly extending jaw section with said jaw section alsohaving a transverse intermediate bend in an opposite direction to saidintermediate section bend whereby the remainder of said jaw sectionextend downwardly, a spring tongue lanced from said intermediate sectionof said upper part with the free end thereof extending toward the handlesection thereof, said tongue being bent to have the section adjacent thefixed end thereof above said intermediate bend in said upper part andthe remainder of said tongue extending through the cut out opening inthe upper part produced by lancing said tongue'therefrom to a positionbelow said handle section thereof, a pair of slots in said upper pieceengaging said tabs of said lower piece to lock said two pieces togetherwith the spring tongue of said upper piece engaging the spring tongue ofsaid lower piece between the handle sections of said two parts toresiliently press the free ends of said jaw sections together. I

2. A hair clip according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said springtongues has an arcuate bend therein whereby the ends of said tonguesremain engaged during handle section, a pair of tabs formed from saidintermovement of the handle sections toward one another.

3. A hair clip according to claim 1, wherein the pressing of said handlesections together causes flexing of both of said spring tongues inopposite directions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,687,737 Schildt Aug. 31, 1954

